Tuesday, April 08, 2008

It was another fruitful day for the team in País Vasco today. Iñigo was in the break of the day, Egoi kept his mountains jersey and Mikel is now 8th overall. Iñigo was the first rider over all five climbs along the way, and is now second to Egoi in that particular competition. The quartet that broke clear early on in the day was as expected reeled in with some 10 kilometres left to ride. All Euskaltel riders came in with the pack, with Iñaki being the first of those in 10th place. More importantly though, everyone escaped the crash that occured inside the last 200 metres. Mikel showed what a smart and experienced rider he is by predicting that a crash would indeed happen, and as a consequence stayed at the very head of the pack until some 150 metres were left to ride. I was really at a loss to find out what he was doing there, at the front of the peloton in a sprint-finish he would stand no chance of winning. It seemed like a waste of energy at the time, but when I saw the crash, I was in awe of his awareness and knowledge. Impressive! Not only Mikel was impressive; Amets was very active in the hectic final 10 kilometres, trying to escape the bunch. He wasn't successful obviously, but he got to show his form is good.